247: Chapter 247 Another Challenge

"What a pity."

Zhang Huaiyuan let out a regretful sigh.

If he could maintain this state indefinitely, he might have been able to become a Intermediate Scholar within the remaining time.

"However... I've technically reached my goal ahead of schedule; every subject has reached the average level. For the remaining time, I only need to focus on improving the discipline I'm best at as much as possible."

Zhang Huaiyuan closed his eyes, in no hurry to take the next step.

After studying continuously for over three hundred years, even though his body and brain domain had been strengthened multiple times, he still felt a profound sense of fatigue.

He had to adjust as quickly as possible.

After resting for an entire month, Zhang Huaiyuan, whose mind and body were fully recovered, finally checked his status.

Besides his Scholar level reaching Level 4 and his gamification progress increasing by one percentage point, he also felt a mysterious sensation.

To a certain extent, his Omniscient Deduction ability could now act upon the All Heavens and Myriad Realms!

Of course, that was provided he could afford the terrifying energy consumption.

"As expected, reaching the shore of truth requires the support of wealth."

Zhang Huaiyuan looked at his pitiful balance and shook his head helplessly, pondering his plan for the next eighty-plus years.

Although the state of bursting inspiration brought by his advancement had vanished, his overall mental activity and comprehension ability had improved significantly compared to before.

If he spent the rest of his time researching a single discipline, he was confident he could reach at least Level 43 before ending his seclusion.

—Knowledge above Level 4 already involved changes in high-dimensional rules.

For example, the Digital Immortality of the Virtual Tower, or the Tower of Time's ability to collect and convert time at will.

The leap in difficulty was even greater than switching from simple addition and subtraction within a hundred to advanced mathematics.

Every level of progress required long-term research and the blessing of talent.

People like Brie Dawn and others had once been peerless geniuses of their respective planes, but unfortunately, over the long years, they could only remain at the level of Junior Scholar.

"If I can reach Level 43 or higher, I should be at the absolute forefront of the younger generation within the last ten thousand years. However, winning while leading a team won't be that simple based on this alone..."

Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes flickered as he looked at a pitch-black bracelet on his hand.

It was something he had obtained from Ruin No. 1 in the Initial World.

Through it, he could enter the "Truth Chess Game" assessment of the ruin at any time.

Even with his current knowledge combined with True Sight, he couldn't see through its principles.

"The ruin's intelligent lifeform once said that the person playing against me would maintain the level they had at my age. Since I've improved so much, I might as well give it a try."

With a thought, Zhang Huaiyuan connected his consciousness to the black bracelet.

After a brief moment of chaos, the familiar Star River Chessboard came into view.

"Young examinee, you are brimming with the scent of knowledge. It seems you wish to challenge the Truth Chess Game once more."

A somewhat teasing voice rang out simultaneously.

"I do intend to try again. I hope Senior will grant me this convenience."

Zhang Huaiyuan saluted with cupped hands.

"As you wish."

As the ruin's intelligent lifeform spoke, the blurred phantom on the other side of the massive chessboard moved once again.

A star was rapidly refined and gathered into its palm, then placed upon the chessboard.

The speed was noticeably faster than last time. Clearly, as the intelligent lifeform had said, the supreme being playing against him was also growing stronger in tandem with his age.

Zhang Huaiyuan focused his gaze and seemed to vaguely see a super cannon of terrifying power poised to fire, ready to destroy everything.

"It seems this star is primarily based on Mechanical Dynamics."

Having reached the Junior Scholar level in all subjects, he was finally no longer as clueless as he had been last time.

He looked at the stars one by one.

In an instant, two lines of thought flooded his mind.

First, find a star containing the same knowledge, influence its structure to make it fail, or assimilate and transform it into his own weapon.

Second, find suitable stars of knowledge to construct a weapon capable of countering it.

Either way required a comprehensive mastery and integration of various academic disciplines.

"The person who created this chess game is simply a genius!"

Zhang Huaiyuan marveled inwardly, not daring to be negligent as he quickly searched the star river for suitable stars of knowledge.

That opponent was truly too powerful. In just a short while, it had already begun cracking the second star.

"Hmm... that one seems good."

Zhang Huaiyuan's gaze lingered on a spot in the star river.

It was also a knowledge star primarily based on "Mechanical Dynamics," but its direction was completely different from the one the being had played.

"I need to completely solve the problems contained within this star before it can be converted into a chess piece..."

"Fortunately... although it's mixed with a lot of other knowledge, most of it is between Levels 3-39, which isn't difficult for me now."

Zhang Huaiyuan rapidly refined the star.

Although that knowledge had been acquired rapidly over three hundred years, under the transcendent state accompanying his advancement, he had achieved almost perfect integration; it wasn't just superficial.

Therefore, refining these stars was much easier than he had imagined.

About five hours later.

Zhang Huaiyuan felt as if the star had suddenly become one with him, allowing him to control it completely.

With a thought, it transformed into a chess piece and landed on the board.

The moment the piece landed, a massive mecha vaguely soared into the sky, standing in opposition to the world-destroying cannon beside it, evenly matched.

However, before he could celebrate.

On the left, a piercing sword qi spiraled up, and on the right, space vaguely shattered.

He saw that, at some unknown point, the being had already played two more pieces.

Three attacks struck simultaneously. The mecha formed by Zhang Huaiyuan's piece only withstood one hit from the giant cannon before being pierced by the sword light and then torn to shreds by the rules of spatial shattering.

Amidst the faint sound of shattering.

The star chess piece he had just played immediately shattered on the board and fell beside the blurred being.

The leading count above also changed to: 3.

"This is too terrifying... is this really the level someone my age can have?"

Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes twitched as he watched the star he had painstakingly refined get devoured in an instant.

He was certain that after his ability evolved once more, his talent had firmly surpassed geniuses like Talix and Fang Qingran by a margin, reaching the very top tier of the All Heavens and Myriad Realms.

But this person, at the same age, actually surpassed him by this much?!

"There is always someone better; there is always a higher heaven."

Zhang Huaiyuan shook his head and, seeing the fourth piece about to land, chose to concede.

There was no chance left in this game.

However, through the match just now, he had gained many new ideas and might be able to take things a step further.

Soon, the chessboard faded, and the voice in the void rang out again:

"Kid, I didn't expect that after only over three years, you could actually catch a glimpse of Master's shadow. Not bad, not bad at all."

"Well? Do you plan to withdraw, or challenge again?"

"Senior overpraises me; I'm still far from it."

Zhang Huaiyuan bowed again with his hands cupped and said with a slight bow:

"Please reset the board, Senior. I would like to challenge again."

...